Jewish Family Services Residency

In this 6-session residency in the winter of 2022, I worked with participants from Jewish Family Services in Cleveland. This was the first time I incorporated a textile element into the workshop. I’d recently completed two quilts for friends, and as I developed the workshop material, I discovered that incorporating quilt-making into the process would give the participants something to wrap themselves around once the residency ended - an embodied way to be embraced, and to. be reminded of the activities and community of the workshops.

Having a visual art element helped the participants to express themselves in concrete tangible means while they connected those expressions to less tangible movement phrases they created.

As the weeks progressed, each participant developed their own style both in drawing and in movement.

In every session, we warmed up our bodies, learned flamenco steps and rhythms, had creative movement activities, decorated a quilt block, sometimes wrote poetry, and shared/witnessed each other’s work.

The participants wowed me with their vulnerability and willingness to try new activities.

Below are some of the squares they created for their quilts.